Be still, and know that I am God!

Psalm 46:10

Stranger | Thomas Merton

When no one listens 
To the quiet trees 
When no one notices 
The sun in the pool 

Where no one feels 
The first drop of rain 
Or sees the last star 

Or hails the first morning 
Of a giant world 
Where peace begins 
And rages end: 

One bird sits still 
Watching the work of God: 
One turning leaf, 
Two falling blossoms, 
Ten circles upon the pond. 

One cloud upon the hillside, 
Two shadows in the valley 
And the light strikes home. 
Now dawn commands the capture 
Of the tallest fortune 
The surrender 
Of no less marvelous prize! 

Closer and clearer 
Than any wordy master 
Thou inward Stranger 
Whom I have never seen, 

Deeper and cleaner 
Than the clamorous ocean 
Seize up my silence 
Hold me in Thy Hand! 

Now act is waste 
And suffering undone 
Laws become prodigals 
Limits are torn down 
For envy has no property 
And passion is none. 

Look, the vast Light stands still 
Our cleanest Light is One!

---

I came across this poem in a 1956 magazine clipping that I found in an early edition of Thomas Merton’s “The Seven Storey Mountain” that I am grateful to own. Here is a picture of the clipping I found:

There are two poems published here, obviously, but “Stranger” is the one that I want to reflect on here.

This poem begins with an observation that oftentimes in our busy world there is no one listening “to the quiet trees” and no one noticing “the sun in the pool.” The beginning of contemplation, Merton reminds us, is to listen and to notice. But this requires us to quiet ourselves, to be still, and to observe what otherwise is missed. Merton’s poem reminds us to do what Mary Oliver would later call her “instructions for living a life” – “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” Merton did this so well. It was a gift of his that was nurtured through his life in the monastery. The solitude, silence, and life of prayer that he found there helped him to pay attention and to tell us about it.

When we are able to do this, to stop and pay attention, we might well notice Merton’s bird already there – sitting still and “watching the work of God.” Nature contemplates even when we are too busy to do so. And for that very reason, paying attention to the natural world around us is one way to learn how to contemplate, to pause long enough to watch the work of God again.

Contemplation also brings us back in touch with that part of us that connects so intimately with God, what Merton in this poem “Thou inward Stranger / Whom I have never seen.” As Augustine reminds us, “The Lord is closer to us than we are to ourselves.” But this mysterious Stranger is often unseen to us, perhaps because we do not even stop long enough to see ourselves. Which turns this poem toward prayer. “Seize up my silence / Hold me in Thy Hand!”

When this poem makes that turn toward addressing God directly, it begins to read like a psalm to me. There are many psalms that are structured in this same way. They begin with speaking of God in the third person but then turn toward addressing God in the second person. Psalm 23 is a classic example of this. It begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” But then it turns to addressing God directly: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.” 

So, too, with Merton’s poem. And so, too, whenever we spend time contemplating the wonders of this world and the work of God. Our contemplation turns to prayer, where, in Merton’s words our “suffering [is] undone, “laws become prodigals” and “limits are torn down.” Our eyes now open, we see, as if for the first time, that “the vast Light stands still” and “Our cleanest Light is One!”

But this “cleanest Light” is often seen clearly only when we stop the flurry of activity in life, and return to sitting still and watching the work of God. Much like the water in a murky pond, our souls need us to be still enough to let the dirt of life settle if we are to see the clean Light shining upon us. This is the gift of contemplation, of learning to “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). This is the gift that Merton received and shared with the world through all of his writings, including this wonderful poem. May God’s vast and gracious Light shine upon us all.